8 Expert Tips on Organizing Your Nursery Closet

Lisa Adams, of LA Closet Design, has been revolutionizing the concept of closets since 2007. She’s tackled the closets of designers, architects and celebrities, and now she’s going to give advice on the pickiest clients of them all—babies! I kid, but I think we can all agree that it’s tricky not to quickly drown in all those tiny little baby clothes. Lisa is going to help us keep them all in check. Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your creative nursery closet organization tips with us below! We’ll let you take it from here.

Often, nursery closets get overlooked when in fact, the design is quite important in teaching kids at a young age how to be organized. It’s also important that you create a space that can grow with them. Their crib will turn into a toddler bed and then into a real bed over the next few years, but the closet usually stays the same, so get it right from the start.

The same general closet design principles apply for nursery closets: everything having a place. When there is a specific place for hanging, shoes, belts, dirty clothes, underwear, etc., kids will know where to find things and be more likely to put them back in their places. If kids cannot reach something, then chances are it will land on the floor. I would recommend a good design that is adjustable and flexible over time, over expensive materials.

Here are my tips for keeping an organized child’s closet:

1. Adjustable rods are a must so they can be adjusted as babies grow into kids.

2. Small drawers are a good addition for all the small accessories (especially in a girl’s room).

3. Drawer/door knobs are a good opportunity to add a pop of something fun, and they can easily be changed as the kids grow.

4. Pull-out shelves or shallow drawers are a great way to store multiple tiny shoes.

5. Lining the walls, back of shelves or even the inside of drawers/cabinets is a fun way to customize the look of store bought closet cabinetry and to tie in the design of the nursery into the closet.

6. Hanging tags are great for keeping organized (size Newborn, 0-3 Months, 6 months, etc.) later on you can change the tags to types of clothing or season (button downs, sweaters, dresses, or rainy days, cold days).

7. Include a laundry hamper in the closet with two liners: one for dirty clothes and one for clothing that is too small (time to donate!). It’s never too early to get your kids in the habit of editing and donating!

8. Depending on your child’s age, think about doing three levels of hanging—you can hang seasonal clothing or clothing that is too big on the top rod and rotate as necessary.

Thank you, Lisa! I love the tip about making things reachable for kids. So obvious, yet I’m sure we all make this mistake in different areas of our house. Best decision I ever made was lowering my kids’ coat hooks so they could hang their own coats!